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Birds Lubbock TX

If you're a bird lover and want to know all about your favorite feathered creatures, look no further. Here's a section of articles dedicated to birds and bird care--so read on for tips and tricks on how to handle your bird.

Should you get another bird? If you're the happy owner of a pet parrot, you've probably pondered the possibility of getting it a cage companion. But are two birds twice as nice or double the trouble? That depends on many factors, say the experts. Ask Mina Tweti, the Los Angeles-based author of the newly published "Of Parrots and People'' (Viking, 2008), and she'll tell you that getting anot...

Birds just wanna have fun Birds love to have fun playing with toys. Da, a 20-year-old cockatiel, wears his heart on his cage. Literally. His owner, Carmen Torres of New York City, made him a leather heart with beads suspended from the sides and bottom. She hung the heart from the top of the cage, so Da could have easy access. It was a smart move: Da is totally captivated by his hand-made playthi...

Squawk talk: How to teach your pet bird to talk Teaching your bird to talk. Eager to impart the gift of gab unto a fine-feathered friend but not sure how? Word is that teaching a speech-conducive bird breed to talk can be challenging, but not impossible -- so long as you speak the beak's language and remain patiently persistent, say the experts. Birds that talk the talk According to Dr. Greg Har...

Traveling with your bird: The basics Traveling with your pet always presents challenges, espcially with pet birds, which require bird cages and other special aviary needs Pet friendly travel accommodations may be not be readily available; unfamiliar surroundings can make many pets anxious; some animals suffer from motion sickness; cats need their litter boxes; dogs need to be walked and exercise...

Caring for disabled birds Caring for disabled birds can be a challenging yet rewarding experience. When veterinarian Kim Danoff rescued Queenie, a parrot with no tongue (terrified of anyone coming near her cage) she didn’t realize that the bird was also completely blind. Queenie was one of 600 parrots sold to the highest-bidding breeders in an online auction. Danoff, a member of the Avian Welfar...

Amazons are more sedentary than other birds, so some effort must be made to keep them active. An exceptionally large enclosure would encourage them to move around more as would an abundance of simple toys with which they can amuse themselves.

Birds just wanna have fun Birds love to have fun playing with toys. Da, a 20-year-old cockatiel, wears his heart on his cage. Literally. His owner, Carmen Torres of New York City, made him a leather heart with beads suspended from the sides and bottom. She hung the heart from the top of the cage, so Da could have easy access. It was a smart move: Da is totally captivated by his hand-made playthi...

Traveling with your bird: The basics Traveling with your pet always presents challenges, espcially with pet birds, which require bird cages and other special aviary needs Pet friendly travel accommodations may be not be readily available; unfamiliar surroundings can make many pets anxious; some animals suffer from motion sickness; cats need their litter boxes; dogs need to be walked and exercise...

Every veterinary student spends years studying the treatment of canine and feline illnesses. But avian medicine is not a required subject of study at most veterinary schools and many vets have limited experience treating birds. Typically, avian medicine is an elective subject taken only by those students with a particular interest in it.

Squawk talk: How to teach your pet bird to talk Teaching your bird to talk. Eager to impart the gift of gab unto a fine-feathered friend but not sure how? Word is that teaching a speech-conducive bird breed to talk can be challenging, but not impossible -- so long as you speak the beak's language and remain patiently persistent, say the experts. Birds that talk the talk According to Dr. Greg Har...

Generally, in the normal green budgie, the cere (plump tissue above the beak) is blue in the male and pinkish brown in the female. This gender differentiation is not 100% accurate, nor does it apply to color mutations. Hormonal changes may affect the cere color. The pair bond between budgies lasts until one of the partners dies

Canaries are not social birds. One bird kept as a single pet will be content. Males must be housed separately from other males to prevent fighting but may be kept within visual or auditory range to stimulate singing. Group housing with mixed ages and both sexes will work only if the cage has enough perches and many feeding stations.

In the wild, most pet bird species are pair-bonders, which means they choose a mate and usually remain together for life. In captivity, a tame parrot might choose one favored human as a surrogate "mate,'' and consider other family members as friendly flock-mates.

Immature grey cockatiels have yellow stripes under the primary wing feathers. A male loses these stripes around 9 months of age. Head and facial markings are brighter on males. Color mutations (lutino, pied, pearl) may not exhibit the same gender differences in feather pattern.

Cockatoos have some capacity to mimic but their voice is not as clear as other parrots. Of all the companion bird species, they are the most reluctant to change their eating habits to a healthy diet. Most cockatoo species produce abundant powderdown, which is shed as feather dust in the cage, on furniture and clothing and found circulating in the air.

It is difficult to reliably distinguish a male from a female conure based on physical characteristics; therefore, endoscopy or laboratory methods must be used for sex determination in breeding facilities. Conures are prolific breeders and the offspring are easy to hand-raise.

Caring for disabled birds Caring for disabled birds can be a challenging yet rewarding experience. When veterinarian Kim Danoff rescued Queenie, a parrot with no tongue (terrified of anyone coming near her cage) she didn’t realize that the bird was also completely blind. Queenie was one of 600 parrots sold to the highest-bidding breeders in an online auction. Danoff, a member of the Avian Welfar...

Male eclectus parrots tend to be more docile than females, especially when hand-raised. Both genders have mimicking ability, although the male may be a better talker. There are reports of eclectus parrots developing a nervous habit of "toe tapping" or "wing flapping."

Lories can be housed in colonies with known birds, but they may attack and kill newly introduced species. The primary consideration for the long-term health of lories is their diet. Improper feeding may lead to stress-induced disease.

Before buying or adopting a pet bird, however, experts recommend asking yourself these aviary-minded questions first to determine if you can wing it as a bird owner. Aside from the fee to purchase or adopt a bird, you’ll need to buy a cage as large as you can accommodate, quality food and supplements, supplies and bird toys, veterinary care and more.

Should you get another bird? If you're the happy owner of a pet parrot, you've probably pondered the possibility of getting it a cage companion. But are two birds twice as nice or double the trouble? That depends on many factors, say the experts. Ask Mina Tweti, the Los Angeles-based author of the newly published "Of Parrots and People'' (Viking, 2008), and she'll tell you that getting anot...

If you're planning air travel with your bird, it is essential to find out in advance what your airline's policy is on taking animals in the passenger cabin. Some airlines -- Frontier, Jet Blue, and Southwest, for example -- do not permit animals in the passenger cabin, with the exception of service dogs.

Quakers are best professionally hand-fed and weaned so they are well socialized before going into a home situation. An untrained, unsocialized Quaker may not be recommended around children. On the other hand, hand-fed Quakers are considered almost to be a domesticated species with second and third generation offspring less noisy and more talkative than parent-raised birds.